I am writing in the hopes someone has a clever solution to an age-old problem.  My neighbor's cat persists in hunting in my yard, and the neighbor refuses to keep it inside.    Recently it has developed a keen interest in my owl-box, to the extent of climbing the tree and sitting on the branch right next to the box.  While I have lived with shooing it away from my feeders, I can't just ignore THIS -- so I'm looking for creative solutions.  The tree is a large maple (2+' in diameter), and its trunk is separated from other trees, although its crown is not.  I've had squirrels in the box recently and the they can jump from adjoining trees.  That's another solution I need...

but back to the cat.  Would putting a phlange around the tree, like a squirrel baffel on a birdfeeder, possibly work?  What material to use, where to get it?  Ideas?

thanks!

Sarah Faulkner
Canton, CT

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them
tasks and work but rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

12/14, 10:30am at Innovation Pond off of Goose Lane.

Seems late in season, but... it was on the ground and very close.
Behavior seemed odd, as it was on the ground and walking toward the
building (I'd wondered if it had hit the building or was otherwise
injured), but then it flew to the other side of the lake, eventually
taking off for good, seeming fine.

Also two pair of Hooded Mergansers on the pond (in addition to the usual
Canada Geese and gulls.

Chris,

Pretty remarkable sighting and closely matching the date this bird from Western MA in Dec '09;
http://surnerbirding.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-broad-winged-hawk.html

Best Wishes,

James

 
James P. Smith
Gill, MA
http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/

From: "Grimm, Chris" chris.grimm@globepequot.com
To: CT Birding List ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 10:48 AM
Subject: [CT Birds] Guilford: Broad-Winged Hawk

12/14, 10:30am at Innovation Pond off of Goose Lane.

Seems late in season, but... it was on the ground and very close.
Behavior seemed odd, as it was on the ground and walking toward the
building (I'd wondered if it had hit the building or was otherwise
injured), but then it flew to the other side of the lake, eventually
taking off for good, seeming fine.

Also two pair of Hooded Mergansers on the pond (in addition to the usual
Canada Geese and gulls.

This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut.
For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

Since a few have mentioned Swainson's, I'll just post to everyone,
instead of continuing to reply individually...

But first, we're at an odd little location - an office building just off
of Exit 59 (Goose Lane).  Behind our building is a somewhat rectangular
pond (Innovation Pond) which is roughly 100 yards by 200 yards.  Two
sides are bordered with about 20 feet of mowed grass - our building and
parking lot along part of one long side, with the short mowed side going
up to a road.  The other two sides are bordered immediately by woods.
This is a great spot for birding - and unusual citings are common (my
favorite having been a Golden Eagle a couple of years ago, but I
digress).

The hawk was slowly (gingerly) walking from the direction of the pond
(when spotted) toward the building - geese do this all of the time - but
odd behavior to see in a hawk (but what I saw was no more than 15 feet
of walking).  And I would say it was a bit disoriented.  Of course, I
might just be projecting that state upon the bird because the behavior
was odd for a hawk.  (We get a lot of hawks here - mostly Red Tails, but
Osprey, Harriers, etc. - but they tend to perch in the trees along the
other side of the pond, if they aren't circling.)  I also almost
immediately wondered if it had hit the windows before ending up on the
ground.  Anyway, this was directly in front of my window (I am on the
second of two floors).

The hawk then flew maybe 100 yards across the corner of the pond and
landed in the grass between the pond and the small road.  At this point
I wondered if it was hurt and unable to do better - but I could not
actually see where it had landed.  But after maybe 30 seconds it took
off, flying south to north across the length of the pond and, again,
directly across my line of vision - maybe 50 feet away - as it ascended
(giving me a great look at the bottom, to go along with the great look
at the top, when it was on the grass under my window).

The bird was initially spotted by a colleague who pointed it out to me
(and who made the preliminary identification).  I wasn't as immediately
confident - but after the solid view from above, the solid view from the
side and below, and a little time to do some research, I concurred.  (My
colleague was actually even more completely confident after seeing the
pictures in the link that James sent, of a Broad-winged Hawk in
Massachusetts in December, 2009.)

While I am not the most capable birder in the area (nor even in my
household), here was my thinking.  (Beyond, obviously, looking closely
at the bird, looking at pictures of other Broad-winged Hawks, and
recognizing that they are the same.)...

The pattern and size did it for me - this was a comparatively small
hawk.  By "pattern" I especially mean the distinct striping on the tail
and the dominant white underside of the wings that stood out - to me
those were the 'primary' identifying characteristics.  And as I
mentioned, it was small, as far as hawks go.  (Given my rudimentary way
of figuring these things out, my first thought when the bird was pointed
out in front of my window was "that hawk is small, like a sharpie, but
it's not (a sharpie)" - it wasn't as small, but certainly closer to a
sharpie than a red tail, in size.)

Anyway, I did look at more pix of Swainson's after receiving that
suggestion for the first time.  I'll put it this way - for the sake of
argument, if I was to say I was only 99% sure it was a Broad-wing, I
would say WITH 100% CONFIDENCE that it's NOT a Swainson's, which
wouldn't have had enough white on the under-wing and which would have
been larger (probably SUBSTANTIALLY larger) than this bird.  Assuming
there is a remote chance that it was not a Broad-winged, and it
absolutely wasn't a Swainson's, I would welcome other thoughts.  (I have
now also looked at scores of Juvy Red Shoulder pix on the Internet -
except for the Stoke's picture, they don't have wings as completely
white, and even theirs is not as white as this one.)

I don't know what the latest citing of Broad-winged in Connecticut is.
But when trying to identify visually, that really wasn't part of the
equation - size, tail markings, and wing markings were - then I went to
my guide and to the Internet.  Clearly they haven't OFTEN been seen this
late in New England - but just as clearly they HAVE been seen this late
in New England.

-----Original Message-----
From: Grimm, Chris
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 10:49 AM
To: CT Birding List
Subject: Guilford: Broad-Winged Hawk

12/14, 10:30am at Innovation Pond off of Goose Lane.

Seems late in season, but... it was on the ground and very close.
Behavior seemed odd, as it was on the ground and walking toward the
building (I'd wondered if it had hit the building or was otherwise
injured), but then it flew to the other side of the lake, eventually
taking off for good, seeming fine.

Also two pair of Hooded Mergansers on the pond (in addition to the usual
Canada Geese and gulls.